


and we all get together when we bury our friends

by bi-tlejuice (bi_tlejuice)



Series: adventures of lydia deetz and the b-man [2]
Category: Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice) - Fandom, Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Best Friends, Comfort, beetlebabes if you even fucking look at this fic i will stomp you to death with my hooves, dead mom, supportive, this is wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:00:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23493604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bi_tlejuice/pseuds/bi-tlejuice
Summary: The things he's certain of are these; 1) breathers feel and act differently around death and dead people than he does 2) this is very important to Lydia. What he's not certain of is pretty much anything else.-it's been a year, and his buddy needs some support
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz
Series: adventures of lydia deetz and the b-man [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690348
Comments: 15
Kudos: 282





	and we all get together when we bury our friends

**Author's Note:**

> let me know if you like this! if you haven't read the first one in the series, it doesn't matter but you should check it out anyway!

The first inkling he gets that anything could possibly be wrong is when he's midway through the wall of Lydia's room, half in her closet and half covered in the spiders who live in between the plaster. He'd been cat-napping in the patch of sun that comes through the master bedroom window (much to Delia's annoyance) when he'd heard her pacing and decided he was curious enough to investigate. However- phasing through the walls, he'd been expecting some kind of furious teen angst that he could either sympathise with or jump on board with and use it to fuel some kind of exciting chaos, but from the sound of it that's not what he's stumbled across.

"-really nothing you can do?" she's demanding, sounding super angry in the way Beetlejuice pretends to be angry when he's sad. "No- no, it's not your fault." More pacing, murmuring from Lydia and finally, "yeah. Bye," followed by a semi-muffled yell and what _sounds_ like Lydia throwing her phone against a wall. 

Sensing he may be needed, he lets a warm cup of coffee appear in his hand before stepping through the wardrobe door. "Alright, kid? Heard some stomping. Coffee?" he asks, using the cup to disguise his probably poor act of being nonchalant. Normally she'd roll her eyes and accept it, either start ranting about _whatever,_ or just demand they go out to the cemetery for her to take pictures and forget about whatever's pissed her off. Occasionally if she's real mad, she'll take the coffee and kick him out. Not today, though - she gently takes the coffee and sips at it, staring at the floorboards and saying absolutely nothing. After a minute he clears his throat, awkwardly shuffling around on the rug. "So-"

"I've got a headache," she announces, unlike Lydia, who will complain to the high heavens about any ailment she has as _soon_ as it happens. "I'm gonna nap." 

Lydia doesn't nap. She barely sleeps in the evening. And she _never_ lies to make him leave her alone - she's always more than happy to tell him to fuck off if she's busy or just wants to be by herself. But the look on her face is weird, unsettling him because there isn't _really_ a look at all, just a blank stare. So Beetlejuice shrugs, pats the top of her head and says "alright, catch ya later," before letting himself out. "Weird," he says, frowning at the Delia's ugly sculpture displayed in the hall. 

Delia herself is re-occupying the bedroom when he tries to lie in the patch of sun again, sat cross-legged _exactly_ where he wants to lie and humming annoyingly loud. He stands there, tapping his foot impatiently, but she dutifully ignores him. After a solid minute he clears his throat. Maybe she didn't notice him? Her eyes are screwed shut, after all.

"I'm ignoring you on purpose," she says through gritted teeth, barely taking a breath before continuing to hum. 

"Not very original of you," he teases, but she doesn't rise to the bait. " _Why_ are you ignoring me?"

"This is a very _serious_ meditation session, Beetlejuice! There's this- this _huge_ responsibility that's been handed to me on a very, very important platter and I _have_ to handle it correctly!"

"Lady, what the _hell_ are you on about?" he asks. Or, at least, he tries to ask. With every word her humming becomes louder until it's hurting his ears. Cursing, he leaves, because if someone's putting that much energy into ignoring him then he's probably not wanted. 

Exactly what the Maitlands are up to, he's not sure, but on their bedroom door there's a handwritten sign that says 'NO BEETLEJUICE', and he's pretty sure that's got something to do with him. Besides, he can normally hear them rearranging the attic or loudly debating their game of Scrobble or whatever (he doesn't get _why_ anyone would waste their time spelling words out,) but even when he presses his ear up to the door there's nothing. Either they've found a way to exit the house (unlikely) or they've soundproofed the room. This is something he is very interested in, but the handle burns his hand when he touches it. Together with the sign, he's assuming he's not wanted.

Well, if nobody interesting wants to hang out, he can always go and bother Charles. "Chuck?" he calls, sticking his head into the office without knocking. "Please tell me you're in the mood for me to piss you off." No response. The desk is empty, and the normal neat-mess is completely tidied away, as if Charles hasn't been home for-

Right. The business trip he's on. 

"What the shit is going on?" he asks Delia's hairless cat, who just arches her back and hisses at him. "Fuck you, scrawny," he sighs, but there's no real malice behind it. Not like he doesn't hate the bastard - he's just too confused about this whole human emotion thing to put any _whoomph_ into his hatred. With all other options exhausted, he swipes some paper from the desk drawer and decides he can't wait for the Maitlands to open the door.

_adam + babs,_

_evry1 is being super wierd. lydia seems sad but she wont say Y or talk too me. need help._

_beetlejuice._

"Illiterate my _ass_ ," he retorts to nobody. _Yeah_ , maybe it was so long since he was little that exactly how to read and write slipped from his mind, but Lydia's been letting him watch her do homework and now he's managed to gain it back a little. Reading was never important when he was busy scaring the living spines out of people, but now he's like, _not supposed to do that anymore_ or whatever Charles said the rules were if he was going to stay here. So, he materialises outside the room and slips it under the door before walking up to the roof and staring at the sunset. 

What a weird day.

-

" _Beetlejuice,_ " Barbara hisses out of the attic window, rolling her eyes when he jumps up with obvious glee. "Come inside." 

By the time he wiggles his way through the window, they're both sat on the bed waiting for him, his note discarded on the pillows behind them. "Are you guys _propositioning_ me?" he asks delightedly. Barbara may narrow her eyes and cross her arms, but he doesn't miss the way Adam flushes a dull pink. "All you had to do was ask-"

" _No_ , Beej, we are _not_. We wanted to talk to you about Lydia," she cuts in, pointing behind her at his note. "What's wrong with her?"

He shrugs, loosening his tie around his neck. "I dunno. I tried asking her, but she was totally weird about it and just kicked me out her room."

"I- are you sure she didn't just want you stop- to go away?" Adam tries, wincing at the pout he gets in return.

"No, _Adam_ , it wasn't like that. Lyds wants me to go away all the time, but she always just says it straight. She told me she was having a _nap_."

"Oh, _weird_ ," they respond in unison, frowning in a _very_ middle-class suburban way. "Lydia _never_ sleeps during the day," Barbara continues, scratching her chin comically.

"Oh my gosh- what if she's sick?" Adam frets, pushing his weird glasses up his nose (spectacles, he calls them, which is just so adorable.) "Should we be worried too? She's so _young_ , Barb!"

Barbara smiles despite the genuine fear on his face, pinching his cheek and standing up. "Oh, you two are so silly, it's cute. I'm sure there's nothing wrong, but if it stops your fretting I'll go and speak to her, alright? Don't even think of coming with me, Beej. Stay put." With that, she lets herself out. Why neither of them phase through walls and shit like that when they could is completely beyond him, but watching them open and close doors unnecessarily is kind of cute. 

"So, Adam, you're looking very sexy tonight," he says conversationally, just to see the man squirm. When he's not graced with a response other than another blush he sighs, slumping back onto the rug and staring up at the ceiling. "What's taking her so long?"

"She's only been gone two minutes, Beetlejuice," he sighs, but he sounds the same kind of worried that Beetlejuice feels but is pretending he isn't. What feels like another eternity passes in concerned silence, only broken by him shuffling around on the carpet and attempting to balance on top of his head. "Do you ever sit still?"

"All the time," he huffs indignantly, third arm protruding from his back just to keep him steady. "If you're cool with sitting still while you're waiting for something important," he insists, pausing to stick his legs up straight in the air and definitely not nearly fall, "there's something wrong with you."

He swings around and subsequently falls flat on his back, not missing the laugh Adam tries not to let out. "Your hair's all flat now," he giggles, hiding his face when Beetlejuice scowls, "and it's pink." Despite his efforts of combing it back into the perfect matted mountain, he's sure that no matter how hard he tries, the pink isn't going to go away until Adam stops laughing at him. Well- he's not laughing now, not anymore, but the smile he has is very suspicious. 

"Don't look at me like that," he warns, because he's sure he's not going to like whatever Adam says next.

"You're worried about Lydia!" he declares, which is exactly what Beetlejuice didn't want him to say. "I didn't know you had a caring bone in your body."

"I have never been more offended in my _life_ ," he announces, shocked. "I'm not _worried_ about Lydia- just thought you guys might know what was up. She's not sick and she's _definitely_ not dying. Breathers start to smell different (better) when they're all covered in death. And _hey_ , my body is made up of caring bones! I'm _king_ of caring."

"You've got a funny way of showing it," Adam says, but he's smiling like he finds it endearing and not annoying, and that's certainly more than Beetlejuice was expecting. The silence carries on for another eternity, but this one is more comfortable. When Adam realises Beetlejuice is lying eagle-spread on the floor so he can look up at the stars through the skylight, he lies down next to him. 

"No stars in the Netherworld," Beetlejuice says quietly, not looking at the other man at all. "Bet you're glad I kept you up here."

"'course I am," he replies, equally quietly and sounding like he means it. "Wouldn't change it for the world."

Normally, if there's really nothing else going on, Beetlejuice sleeps curled up on the foot of Lydia's bed. They've all offered to buy him a blow up mattress (though, he's not sure how that works 'cause he's pretty sure mattresses are made of springs and it's pretty hard to inflate metal, he's tried) but he prefers it there, even though Lydia's kicked him in the head in her sleep a couple times. Besides, when he sleeps that close to someone, he normally finds himself kicking about in their dream, which is very handy for when Lydia has bad dreams. There's no need for her to know that when dream-Beetlejuice kills Juno and spends the rest of her dream having a picnic with her that it's actually _real_ -Beetlejuice. And anyway, it's kind of worth it for the weird but amused looks she gives him in the mornings. 

"It has been quite a while since Barbara went downstairs," Adam muses, sitting up and stretching his arms over his head. "I might stick my head in."

"Can I come?" Beetlejuice asks, but by the time he sits up to hear the response, Adam is already gone. "Or I'll just wait here. That's cool too."

Without Adam, the silence is bugging him, tugging in the pit of his stomach and playing Lydia's empty look over and over in his head. Being alone kind of sucks, huh. 

"Bless her, she's fallen asleep in there. They both have, so I thought I'd leave them to it," Adam says, half-whispering as if there's a chance he'll wake them up. "I'll probably be calling it a night too, Beetlejuice."

"Okay," he says, un-moving from his spot on the floor. When Adam keeps looking at him pointedly, he gestures confusedly. "What? Oh, you want me out?" In the corner of his eye, he sees his hair flush a soft mauve. Traitorous, traitorous hair. "I always sleep in Lydia's room- hey, at the _end of her bed_ , don't give me that look. But if Babs wakes up and I'm in there, she'll probably smack me and call me a perv or something, and I'm so over waking up like that."

"You're happy at the end of beds?"

Beetlejuice shrugs, fiddling with the shoelace on his shoes. It's permanently knotted. He has no idea how to untie it. "I'm happy on the floor. Just don't like sleeping by myself." Wait- that was dumb. "Or whatever," he adds hastily, standing up to leave. Nice one, B-man. Totally saved it there. 

"If- and I _will_ set Barb on you if you don't- _if_ you respect my boundaries, you can sleep in here. Just for tonight, mind you."

"Holy shit- we're cuddling, then?"

" _No,_ " he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You can sleep on the mattress if you _have_ to, but. Uh, but you can't share the comforter with me. That will remain a barrier between us."

"Like you don't want to cuddle me," he insists, but he's secretly very happy with this result. 

"You wanna turn around while I get changed then?" Adam hums, holding up his sleep shirt and motioning for him to spin.

"Not really."

" _Please_ turn around," he clarifies, and Beetlejuice pouts but obeys anyway. There's some shuffling and Adam announces, "All done!" after a few moments. "Do you not have pajamas."

"I've got my birthday suit," he says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

" _Clothes,_ " he sighs, sounding slightly desperate. 

For some reason, he never sleeps in anything but his suit in Lydia's room. And, despite wanting to watch Adam blush, he doesn't actually sleep naked - he sleeps in a long sleeved cotton shirt and pajama pants with cartoon sandworms. It's comfier, but revealing them felt... vulnerable, somehow? The stripy suit was an important part of the B-man imgage, and in such stupid soft clothes he felt kind of like he was less than Beetlejuice.

But Adam's smiling, tired eyes crinkled warmly, and he's in his own sleep shirt and matching shorts. And Beetlejuice figures, _what the hell_?

Adam's eyes linger just enough to make him nervous, so he scowls and says "don't say a word or I'll torch your suburban linen shorts."

"No, I think they're nice, Beetlejuice- I'm glad you're comfortable." And then he rolls over and switches off his lamp as if he hasn't just said something that's rocked Beetlejuice's entire world. "Goodnight."

"Don't let the bedbugs bite," he yawns, but in the dark he's kind of grinning like an idiot.

-

Morning comes suddenly, with Adam waking him up by opening the curtains and whistling like a bird. He laughs when Beetlejuice growls and pulls a pillow over his face, but he laughs even more when he possesses the bed to make itself and therefore tosses him on the floor. 

"You fucking- wait, you've showered already?" he grumbles, rubbing his eyes. "Without me?"

"Come on, Barbara is up on the roof," Adam says, willfully ignoring any and all romantic or sexual advances. "We can ask her about Lydia?"

Beetlejuice is now completely awake, floating up towards the roof before he even looks up. Barbara is indeed on the roof, sat cross-legged on his proclaimed sulking spot and cradling a cup of tea. He wants to ask what happened before he's even properly standing up, but she looks sad, and that's kind of freaking him out. Adam looks sad at some point pretty much every day- he wants to leave the house to pet a dog but can't, someone did something dumb on a movie he was watching. You get the idea. Barbara is always animated and pretty much always happy.

"Honey?" calls Adam, climbing out of the window like an idiot. She jumps, drops her mug and smiles gratefully when Beetlejuice stops it from falling. "What happened with Lydia?"

She smiles a weird, sad smile that makes him feel kind of sick. "She's not unwell, I promise," is how she starts, which is certainly promising. "I think- she might have to figure this one out on her own, boys." 

"She doesn't want our help?" he demands, because why would you have all this help lying around and not use it?

"No, it's not like that, Beej." She drinks some of her tea and looks at the sun rising steadily in the sky. "I don't think there's anything that we can do to help."

"Well, what's wrong? Maybe I can help cos I can do this thing you don't know about, and then-"

"Beetlejuice- Lydia told me in confidence, and if it were me I wouldn't want that person to tell anyone."

"That's fucking dumb," he decides - he's gonna ask Lydia herself if Barbara doesn't think he should know. He thinks maybe she calls after him after he disappears, but he's too busy reappearing in Lydia's room to listen. "Hey, kid- I wanna talk about-" he starts, but his eyes adjust to the dark room. "Lyds?"

"Not now, Beej," she says from where she's lying on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. There's no malice or anger in her voice. She just sounds tired. 

"You don't wanna talk to me?"

"It's not you. Pinky promise," she says, and even though she doesn't hold her pinky up he can hear that she means it. "Just don't wanna talk to anyone right now. Maybe tomorrow."

 _You have school tomorrow, you just don't wanna hang out with me_ , he doesn't say 'cause this is about how Lydia feels and not him. Instead he nods, even though she's not looking, and goes to leave through the door. Then he pauses, holds his breath for a second and just says it. "We could hang out and not talk," he suggests, hastily adding a, "If you wanna," to make sure he's not seeming needy and is still very cool. 

Lydia pauses and sits up, and he braces himself to be told to get out, but then she just shuffles over and lies up against the wall. "Lie down. If you wanna."

What he really wants to do is grab her by the shoulders and demand she tells him what's wrong and promises she isn't going to jump off the roof. But _again_ , this is about Lydia and not him, and if it's gonna make her feel better he'll do it without question. _Dude, you're a fucking gross sap,_ says the Beetlejuice in his mind. Whatever. That guy is a dick.

The room is silent other than her breathing, and he doesn't want to shift on the bed in case he disrupts her and doesn't get to hang out anymore. But then he remembers what he taught himself to do when he was twelve and couldn't sleep because he was alone in the house. Without speaking, he squeezes his eyes shut, and-

"Holy shit," Lydia whispers, and he opens his eyes to stare (kind of proudly) at the night sky now projected on the ceiling. Incrementally she starts relaxing into her pillow. "Hey loser. You're my BFFFF forever."

"That's so gay," he sighs, but maybe he leans over and bumps her shoulder. 

Beetlejuice isn't sure how long he spends lying there, but when Lydia seems to be sound asleep, he sneaks out and is regrettably accosted by Delia the second he shuts the bedroom door. "Woah, personal space, lady."

"How is she? Does she want lunch? Did you fix everything?" she's whispering, so loud that she may as well not be whispering. "Is she letting me come with her?"

"What the _fuck_ are you on about?"

"To go and see her mother! Charles wanted me to go with her so badly, but I offered and she is insisting she goes alone! And I just don't think that's healthy, to-"

"Calm it, I'm drowning in info here. Why's she going? Why can't Chuck go with?"

"His stupid business plane got cancelled and the next one isn't out until- wait, are you being serious? Did nobody tell you? It's the one year anniversary of her mother's death."

Beetlejuice flicks through the phone call he'd walked in on, the emptiness in replacement of any normal anger, and it completely makes sense. "Shit," he says, at a loss of much else to say. "Oh, shit." Delia throws her arms up into the air frantically. "When?"

" _Tomorrow_ ," she hisses, and suddenly her annoying panicking seems justified. Shit, and she's asleep now, so he can't even ask her to let him come and let her sleep on it. He's got like, no time at all. "You're the only one who can get through to her- you _have_ to do something!"

As much as he's not wanting to be someone who takes advice from Delia, she's _right_ \- if Lydia's letting him waste her time with stupid chatting and pranks and fires he didn't mean to set and weird hell animals he's summoned into her room, he can do this for her. He owes her that much, at least. All that stuff is super lame to say out loud, though, so he just shrugs and says "I'll see what I can do, alright?" 

Where the fuck is he supposed to go from here?

See, the issue here is that he goes to Lydia for all of his advice. She's cleverer than him, arguably more mature and not annoying like the Maitlands are when he wants advice. That's unfair, maybe - Barbara is very wise. Adam is- he's there. But as wise as Barbara can be, she's equally quite terrifying (not that he'll ever admit it) and she's already told him not to get involved, so she'll probably see past him meaning well and just tell him to leave her alone. Without any advice, he can tell she doesn't want to be left alone. Tonight showed that, because they're exactly like each other - she'd probably rather die than admit she doesn't want to be alone, God forbid _ask_ him to come with her. That doesn't mean she wants to be alone. Beetlejuice just has to work out how to do this. 

Having a dead mom doesn't bother him, but it seems different with breathers - apparently some of them have moms that actually care about them. What a wild concept that would be.

-

He's sat on the roof staring at the sunset, dustbunnies bouncing around his head when he works out what he's supposed to do. Then he figures, _what the fuck._ When he materialises on Lydia's bed, she's stood in the middle of her bedroom in a towel and blow-drying her hair.

"Knock, you fucking pervert," she yells over the noise of the blow-dryer, but she makes no move to get him out. As soon as he touches down onto the comforter, he whips around to face the wall and pulls it over his head. It's warm, and it smells like lavender and sadness but still like something _living_. It's nice. "You can come out now."

"Are you- y'know, _not in a towel_? Also, _not_ a pervert."

" _Obviously_ ," she sighs, flicking the back of his head yet kind of sounding like she might be smiling. "What d'you want?"

Well. Now or never. "Are you gonna see your mom tomorrow?"

Even through the blanket he hears her go still. Not being able to see her makes it easier - he thinks if it was him, he'd be freaked out by eye contact right now. "Yeah."

"Can I come?"

Another pause. "Why?" she says carefully, bridging on defensive. He wants to make sure she's okay, but she's not a baby. 

"I wanna meet her." He's met with silence, so he pushes further. "Her daughter's pretty fuckin' cool, so I figured I should see whether the apple falls far from the tree."

This pause is the longest of all, and he's never been more scared that she's going to kick him out. "If you want."

Beaming, he finally pulls the blanket off his head and turns to face her. Maybe she's crying, but it's super dark in her room and she's glaring at the floorboards, and even if she was crying he's hardly going to call her out on it. "Sweet. Can't wait. Wanna watch Friends?"

-

By the time he wakes up, half on the foot of her bed and half floating, Lydia's already in the kitchen. Clearly she's not that up for talking - she doesn't even flash him a smile when he walks in - but when she makes herself breakfast, she lets him eat the empty box her cereal came in. Barbara, omnipotent and omniscient, notices this and uses a stern point to indicate for him to come over.

"What're you doing?"

"Lyds said I could come with her. What should I wear?"

" _Beetlejuice,_ it's really serious! You need to take it seriously!"

He blinks at her, scratching the grass growing at the back of his neck. "I know. I need to make a good impression on her mom, dude. I've never met her before."

Now _Barbara_ looks like she's the confused one, which is a change if it's anything at all. She only takes a moment to gather herself, but it makes him feel better. "Black. Probably no stripes." He clicks his fingers and the stripes wash off, leaving his normal suit in black with a white shirt underneath. The tie stays green, mostly because a lot of the green is made up off moss growing off of it, but a little bit because the tie is important. "You don't scrub up too badly, hm?"

"Beej?" Lydia says from behind him, and by the time he blinks Barbara has vanished. "You dressed up?"

"She's an important lady," he reasons, because she _is,_ and she really might be hanging around by her grave. Lydia won't be able to see her or hear her, but she could be watching. And if he's gonna stick around the Deetz family for the rest of their lives, he should probably get Emily's approval. "D'you wanna go now?"

She nods, toeing the floorboards in the boots Charles never lets her wear inside the house. Thankfully, he's familiar with the town cemetery - he had to do _something_ while he was waiting for the Maitlands to die, and the cemetery was really where things were happening. It was pretty much the only place in town things were happening. Lydia doesn't question it when he loops her arm through his and they appear at the gate.

It's not an overly hot day, but the rising sunlight is warm on their backs and it glistens on the dew drops in the grass. "It was like this on the day mom died," Lydia says, not really expecting a response. "It rained for the whole week after." Sometimes, people say stuff just because they need someone else to hear it. It's not because they're looking to hear anything in return. So Beetlejuice nods, squeezing her arm gently before letting go. If he's being honest, he's scared shitless. The weight of Lydia letting him come with is heavy on his shoulders - he might be kinda clueless, but even he knows how important today is. The things he's certain of are these; 1) breathers feel and act differently around death and dead people than he does 2) this is very important to Lydia. What he's not certain of is pretty much anything else. 

On the slow walk towards her grave, he notices a lot of _stuff_ adorning some of the graves, like flowers and food (which seems entirely pointless, as the food's gonna rot and the flowers are gonna die.) Flowers don't grow in the Netherworld, just moss, grass and aggressive plants with human teeth, so he's pretty uneducated when it comes to like, different types of flowers. Roses are normally cool, right? Lydia doesn't seem to notice the little bunch behind his back until they stop walking, but she smiles at him. Bingo.

"Hi, mom," she says, dropping to sit cross-legged in the grass and waiting for Beetlejuice to follow suit. "This is Beetlejuice. He wanted to meet you."

He waves at the grave, then realises that's probably not the introduction Lydia was looking for. "Hi Mrs Deetz. It's super cool to meet you." The second Lydia sat down, he started to feel her presence - she's definitely listening. Technically he thinks he could summon her if he really tried, but that kind of thing is more likely to go wrong than right, and killing or horrifically disfiguring her mom's ghost is probably not what Lydia needs to see today. Once the dead _pass over_ , if we're putting it delicately, it's quite hard to get them back. Much easier to learn how to be happier without them. 

"Beej is like, some weird demon who was haunting our new house when we moved in," she starts, and he places the roses and sits back. Lydia chats for a while, catching her up on everything to do with the Maitlands or Delia or how much of an asshole Beetlejuice is- which, normally he would interject, but she's right, anyway. There's a pause, then "Is she here? You can tell, right?"

He pauses, because not answering this carefully would be a bad idea. "It depends what you're going for with 'here'," he says after a minute. She nods, watching him patiently and clearly expecting more. "In terms of like, 'is her apparition floating around us', no. But like. I dunno, it's difficult for me to explain to a breather. Dead can sense other dead - like, Barb or Adam can tell when I'm home or not home, or if I'm walkin' upstairs. I can't _see_ your mom. But there's a warm presence here." Lydia nods, face carefully held together. Beetlejuice thinks interacting with breathers would be much easier if they let themselves be open about their emotions. Then he wouldn't have to be. "Look- I can't for certain say it's her. We're in a graveyard, there's a lot going on round here. But," he says, staring directly at the _Emily Deetz_ carved in to the stone, "I do think it's her. The presence got warmer when you were chatting all that stuff. Ghosts never completely lose the link between their soul and their body, so they _can_ visit whenever - most of'em come say hi on the one year mark."

Lydia _beams_ , the kind of earnest smile she only gives people when she thinks nobody is watching (the B-man is _always_ watching, except not in a creepy way.) And then she's right back into it, newfound confidence that her mother can hear what she's saying. Mostly, Beetlejuice doesn't listen, not 'cause he's not interested but because it feels too personal and not really any of his business. "And- wait, Beej," she says, which snaps him out of urging the moss on his tie to grow. "Can she come back other days?"

"Don't see why not. Time's a bit different in the Netherworld, so you might want a calendar date rather than a 'see you next tuesday', if you get me."

"Dad misses you so much, mom- I promise he wanted to come, but his plane got cancelled. He said he's gonna come and see you as soon as he can, so like- if you wanna be here when he does, you should stick around until tomorrow, alright?" 

Exactly how long they're sat there, he's not sure, but the sun is high in the sky when Lydia's stomach starts rumbling and she takes a big deep breath. "I don't want to say bye again."

Beetlejuice shrugs, poking at a daisy and noting how they don't wilt anymore after he touches them. "We can come back whenever you want, kid. Not like I got anything else to do, anyways." Without request, he steps away for a minute - in his experience of dead people, the goodbye-ing is the hardest. But when Lydia finally steps up and joins him, the presence is still there, as if waiting for something. "Mind if I meet you at the gate?" he asks, and she narrows her eyes but clearly decides it's not worth questioning. Once she's out of ear's reach, he turns back towards the gravestone.

"I know you're still here, and I've got a feelin' it's 'cause you wanna have a word with me. What d'ya wanna know?" Obviously, there's no verbal response, but a cold breeze tickles the back of her neck. Yikes. He thought it would be something like this. "I know, I know- I get why it _looks_ weird. But I promise it's not- like, yeah, _maybe_ at first, I was hanging around to like, become alive again- you've read the handbook, you get how it works. But then, like, it ended up not working out and I left, and it was just. It was lonely, 'cause Lydia and the Maitlands are like, the only friends I've ever had. So I came back and now we hang." The breeze blows again, less sharp this time but still cold. "All I want is for Lydia to be happy, alright?" he kind of snaps, because this woman needs to see how important all this is. "Ask around in the Netherworld- or, actually, maybe don't. The point is, I'm giving up my whole reputation I've spent millennium building up 'cause I care about Lydia. I mean, I came with her today, didn't I? You don't think that took some convincing?"

There's no wind in response, but there's something. A sense of content, maybe. He's not overly familiar with how that's supposed to feel. The sun shining on his back feels warmer. It feels done now, so he stands up, brushes the spiders off his knees (for some reason, they flock to him as long as nobody else is around.) "I've got her back, okay? Pinky promise." He holds out his pinky to show her he really, really does minute. Beetlejuice is king of Hell, ruthless killer of breathers or anyone who gets in his way; he doesn't do gross shit like this. But here he is doing it anyway. A little white butterfly lands on his finger, just for a second. 

A promise, then.

"Ready to go?" Lydia asks from behind him, clearly tired of waiting. Maybe she sees the butterfly, maybe not, but she looks happier than she has all week. 

"You're the most impatient person I've ever met," he sighs, but he holds out his arm for her anyway.


End file.
